Freezing Temperatures to Continue at Night (updated 10/22)

Cold nights in the 20s and cool days in the 40s will continue for much of the week. Southwest winds and high temperatures in the 50s will return for Saturday.

Madison reached freezing on October 19, which is the latest first freeze in the past 30 years! On average, Madison has reached 32 degrees by October 2nd, and Milwaukee by October 19th. On average, Madison has reached 28 degrees by October 13th, and Milwaukee by November 5th.

The box and whisker plot below shows when we typically see our first freeze (when temperatures are less than or equal to 32 degrees) and when we typically see our first hard freeze (when temperatures are less than or equal to 28 degrees). The bottom most point on each vertical line represents the earliest date that the respective temperature has been reached (between 1981 and 2010), while the highest point represents the latest date.

The horizontal line at the bottom of the box shows the date that the temperature has occurred earlier than 25% of the time, and the line at the top of the box shows the date that the temperature has occurred earlier than 75% of the time. For example, in Madison, the temperature dropped to or below 32 degrees earlier than September 29th 25% of the time, and earlier than October 6th 75% of the time, between 1981 and 2010.